Kara-Moon Forum

This came tumbling out nicely after a bit of a dry spell..makes me kinda homesick for the tradewinds..and here I am, trying to settle down for a change ;D

Island Nights..

..not conventional structure, but I like the smooth development, and the consistent theme.

..it always puts me back there.

Wyatt

EDIT: ..latest version..updated 08-13-07.

A bit of hesitating start of the song, which actually makes you curious about what is comming.

But a great idea for a song, it has a good swing.
To become a full song it needs 2 thing (IMHO)
- A bassline, if you have chord chart I can add it if you want? But perhaps you better wait for the full version
- A good lead, Vox or synth ? don't know

..thank you for your comments, kara.

there is more of a 'bass-line' in the 2nd half, but it is like what you hear near the end of this one, which is some hammered chords on my strat..not exactly a bass-line, but something I added to put more of a bottom on it.

I am in the process of trimming the longer version down..I would be tres hereux if you would do the honors of playing a base track..I don't have a chord chart, but can post the new version in the next day or two,.;D

Other than the percussion track, all tracks are Fender Stratocaster..4 guitar tracks..one track made by mixing down three..the second track made from mixing down two, and two tracks that I played straight through in one take.
The so called bass-track I used EQ to take the mids out entirely so I wouldn't crowd the other tracks..all guitar tracks cleaned in Audition..no other fx..straight from my amp to my mixer.

I record intruments, either guitar or harmonica..or a tiny pinch of keyboard on rare occasion..I don't know MIDI, syths, samples, loops..would like to learn though when I hear some of the fine music people do electronically..I just do the best I can with these things I'm a little familiar with.

Wyatt

EDIT TO ADD:

Oh, I wanted to share what I was thinking about the intro. I have been listening to some very layered music here, and my guess is that the sense of layers might be coming from tracks being predominately different frequencies..?..not sure..

..anyway, I started with one track and added another, then added three more tracks, one at a time..influenced by some of the songs I have been listening to..kind of in the back of my mind.

Hey Wyatt! I like the sounds of the guitars...very nice.

I'll add to the list if you don't mind....would like to hear a change or more of a hook somewhere.

ok, i'll see what i can do once the final version is done

THis is a very freaky listen... especially with the panned instrumental parts.  My brain feels like it is being tickled from both sides of these headphones.

Good expressive guitar parts and a smooth drum loop.

One suggestion: Wouldn't it be cool if there was a "crossover"  point where the two guitar parts swept into their opposite pannings?  It probably shouldn't be instant, nor slow, but it would be a good trick to play on the listener... just a thought.  Then at the end, you could even experiement with the panning being tremeloed, or LFO-ed...  cool huh?

Hi Fred,

I have been wrestling with something like what I think you're saying..it doesnt have a continuous structured melody line. When I was writing it I was mentally on the beach..torches stuck in the sand..waves coming in..didn't have a story with a beginning middle and end..

Normally I write with a structure in mind..like verse, verse, chorus, etc..chord progression and melody and then harmony.

I wasn't very successful when I tried to come back afterwards to impose a structural element onto this. For me I am kind of up a tree unless I can hear it.

Thanks for listening and thanks for your comment.

Wyattt

Northern_Fist,

Thanks for your comments, and for your enthusiasm. It actually did cross my mind at one point to cross over, but I was worried about it getting too busy. I already had so many guitar tracks in there that I mixed some of them to narrow it down to 4 tracks of guitar. It was starting to feel like taking a bunch of puppies out for a walk without any leashes.

I might have even given it a try, but not long ago I did a song like that and had my wife listen in the headphones. It made her  nauseous, so I figured I better back off, at least a little.

It gives me some ideas though..gotta hang onto that sense of adventure.

Wyatt

Hey Wyatt I like your guitar playing here!  8)
I look forward for the full version
You can start working on drums variations, it can inspire you to different developments, imho

Cheers

Hi Laguna,

Thank you for listening. I like your idea of drum variations. That was my first drumtrack, and yesterday I started playing with a different one.

What I noticed is that, in spite of the fact that I play kind of a large variety of music, playing to a rythm track causes me to have to fit in with something just a bit different than I might have otherwise..and yes, it is inspiring.

By today I am seeing what you mean in a way I hadn't before. I put a percussion track with a verse and chorus I wrote a few months ago, and it has a very different character..it surprised me.

Good call..

Wyatt

Woow ! I'm really glad it was a good advice  ;D
well, you figured it out by yourself....  ;)
Keep on !

Cheers

Some nice guitarlines you have here.

I understand this is just a first draft. Just the same I'll give some of my thoughts about it.

Basically you have one idea here. To make the song more interesting you could introduce one or two more ideas. This could be a change in chords, add another instrument which doesn't have to be a lead instrument, it could also be something else in the background or maybe a bassline.

Of course I don't know if you have all the gear to do this.

Martin,

Thanks for listening and for your comment. I hear what you're saying.

I felt like this needed something when I was writing it, but I haven't quite got to the place where I can hear it. If I can hear an idea in my mind, I can nail it.

I'm going to keep thinking about this, because another instrument might be a good way to develop this..maybe a key change or some sort of a break..it stays somewhere instead of goes somewhere..I like where it stays, but would like to have it go somewhere too.

LOL..your right about not having the gear..I don't have a lot of gear, but at this stage it's me that need working on ;D

Thanks for your input.

Wyatt

.

I like the guitar playing and the melodies they play. A bass line is very much needed though and i agree that it needs some kind of change up. There are some nice ideas in this and i'll look forward to hearing the final version.

Thanks Blipp. I'll see what I can do.

Wyatt

A bassline was my idea too, until I tried it.
And didn't find one that realy fits the mood of the song. This song has a very special structure which is one of the strong aspects of this song. Adding a bass line changes this, making the song to linear. It's allso very hard to find a bassline that doesn't clash with the different guitar lines.
I didn't find a solution, sorry

Perhaps somebody else is up to the task.

kara,

I think you are describing something that I have been going through as well.

Each track I put in along the way, [8 in all], added something to the feel of the song. Thats a lot of
tracks to still not have anymore structure than this, but I have liked the flow at each stage of development.

I haven't been able to come up with something that continues to add to it, at least not yet, and if it changes
too much it will be a different song. Maybe if I wrote some lyrics for it that would force the melody issue. :)

I wrestled with this lack of a conventional structure since the beginning, so I understand and
appreciate peoples comments, and thank you very much kara, for working at it too. I appreciate your efforts.

Wyatt

or perhaps some short instrumental phrazes to add?
I'll have to ask my lady...